"You insolent fool, courting death!" Elder Yale's killing intent surged violently. Now that they were no longer in Winterhold Valley, Elder Yale had no reason to hold back. His frenzied domain of murderous intent crashed down toward Joe Di.
Joe Di couldn't even be bothered to move. With Charlotte Ling present, or even without her, he would never fear Elder Yale. At worst, if he couldn't win, he could simply leave—did Elder Yale really think he could catch him?
Charlotte Ling would never let Elder Yale lay a hand on Joe Di. Her Dao Integration domain erupted without reservation, sweeping outward in a furious surge.
"You've already regained your Dao Integration strength..." Elder Yale instantly realized that Charlotte Ling's power had returned; otherwise, she couldn't have unleashed such a formidable domain aura.
Elder Yale's domain collided with Charlotte Ling's, sending thunderous echoes reverberating through the void. The entire space seemed to tremble.
Among the three, Joe Di's cultivation was the weakest, but his divine sense and perception were the strongest—neither Elder Yale nor Charlotte Ling could compare. As their domains clashed, Joe Di, who wasn't participating in the fight, could clearly sense that Elder Yale's domain was on a completely different level from Charlotte Ling's.
"Crack! Crack!" The sound of domain laws shattering echoed through the void as Elder Yale's domain fractured piece by piece, while Charlotte Ling's domain remained untouched.
Joe Di immediately sensed the changes in the spatial laws around them. Elder Yale's Dao Integration laws were nowhere near the same level as Charlotte Ling's. In fact, it seemed that their Dao Integration laws belonged to entirely different tiers.
This made Joe Di frown slightly. Both were Dao Integration cultivators—Elder Yale might not match Charlotte Ling, but the gap shouldn't be this vast, right?
Something was clearly wrong—perhaps Elder Yale's Dao Integration was a false path. Joe Di couldn't even sense what state Elder Yale's Primordial domain was in, let alone his Dao Integration domain. Having met few true experts, Joe Di was left completely puzzled by the situation.
Joe Di frowned, and Charlotte Ling was equally stunned. She had never considered herself weaker than Elder Yale, but when their domains collided, Elder Yale's domain shattered piece by piece. Her own domain completely overwhelmed his—could it be that Elder Yale wasn't truly Dao Integration?
Charlotte Ling was frozen in disbelief, momentarily unable to act. Elder Yale, too, was utterly shocked; even if Charlotte Ling was Dao Integration, she shouldn't be able to crush him so completely...
The reality was that his domain had been utterly crushed by Charlotte Ling's.
A scene suddenly flashed through Elder Yale's mind—back when he first arrived in the Chaos Realm, a weathered man once said to a Dao Integration cultivator, "You, a mere ant who has merged with a false Dao, dare covet my sacred treasure...?"
That weathered man had casually slapped the Dao Integration cultivator into fragments. At the time, Elder Yale assumed the man must have been a Third Step powerhouse, so he hadn't thought much of it. Now, it seemed likely that the weathered man was also a Dao Integration cultivator.
Just as that Dao Integration cultivator had said—one had merged with the true Dao, the other with a false Dao.
Elder Yale realized almost instantly that he might have merged with a false Dao. Knowing he was not only no match for Charlotte Ling, but far inferior, he immediately used his escape technique. However, he fled in Joe Di's direction—no matter how strong Charlotte Ling was, if his reaction was faster, he could grab Joe Di and escape.
He was certain that Joe Di harbored a great secret.
Seeing Elder Yale fleeing toward him, Joe Di sneered. He summoned the Azure Veil Blade and struck with a single slash.
A flash of blade light tore through the void. Still in the void, Elder Yale could clearly hear the sound of his domain shattering. As the spatial laws shifted, his escape technique faltered, and he was forced out into the open.
"You old fool, I've been wanting to thrash you for ages, and you still dare come at me." As Joe Di spoke, he launched a punch.
Waves surged like fury, peaks gathered like mountains!
This time, Joe Di's punch didn't summon just three fist mountains, but a continuous row of crashing peak-waves.
As he unleashed this punch, Joe Di was elated—he had finally fused 'Waves of Fury' and 'Peaks Gathered' into one.
With this punch, anything standing before him would be reduced to ashes—the ultimate state of 'palaces turned to dust.'
A wave of death swept in. Elder Yale was shaken to his core—he realized, blinded by shock, that Joe Di was no mere Dao Nurturing cultivator. He was at least a half-step Dao Integration, perhaps even a true Dao Integration equal to himself.
Earlier, that blade strike had shattered his escape technique, and now this punch flowed seamlessly after the blade, without the slightest pause. No wonder Joe Di had shown no fear in Winterhold Valley—it turned out he truly had nothing to fear, not just relying on a Dao Origin Pill Saint.
The raging peak-waves crashed forth, wave after wave. Elder Yale no longer dared to try grabbing Joe Di; he was forced to summon the Glory Ring.
But just as Elder Yale summoned the Glory Ring, Charlotte Ling reacted—a Palm Sword slashed toward him. Before it even landed, the chilling intent seeped into his sea of consciousness and deep into his mind.
A trace of despair flashed through Elder Yale's heart—Joe Di's domain was nearly as strong as his own, and Charlotte Ling's was far stronger.
At this moment, he had no chance to escape at all.
Hesitating for just a heartbeat, Elder Yale still hurled the Glory Ring at Charlotte Ling's Palm Sword. Charlotte Ling was clearly stronger than Joe Di—if he let Joe Di strike him, he might survive, but if Charlotte Ling's sword landed, he would be utterly destroyed.
Boom! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Almost simultaneously, as Elder Yale's Glory Ring blocked Charlotte Ling's Palm Sword, Joe Di's fist waves wrapped around Elder Yale's body without wasting a single ounce of force.
"Crack!" The Glory Ring was sent flying by Charlotte Ling's Palm Sword. Elder Yale spat out a stream of blood; his bones fractured, and even his sea of consciousness was riddled with cracks.
Although Elder Yale was gravely wounded, he managed to block Charlotte Ling's Palm Sword. Unfortunately, Joe Di's fist waves surged like a raging sea, enveloping Elder Yale completely.
Elder Yale's body burst like an overinflated balloon, blood mist forming a faint dark red cloud in the void.
Joe Di formed a divine essence hand seal, ready to seize Elder Yale's soul. But before his palm could reach, Elder Yale self-destructed.
Having lost his physical body, Elder Yale's self-destruction couldn't affect Charlotte Ling at all. As for Joe Di, with his saintly physique, he was barely impacted.
"Clang!" A ring fell to the ground. Because Elder Yale self-destructed only as a soul, the blast was so weak it didn't even destroy the ring.
"This is my ring!" Charlotte Ling immediately picked up the ring, her voice trembling with excitement. Other than what was in her sea of consciousness, the ring in her hand was just an ordinary low-grade artifact—and there was nothing valuable inside it.
"Looks like we were right—it was that old fool who set you up. Pity he got off easy by self-destructing," Joe Di remarked with a sigh.
"Brother Joe, thank you so much." Charlotte Ling bowed deeply to Joe Di. Without his help, she wouldn't have recovered her ring—and she might have lost her life to Elder Yale.
Joe Di smiled, "This was the result of our teamwork. Without you, Elder Yale wouldn't have suffered at all. But there's something I'm curious about—both you and Elder Yale are Dao Integration cultivators, so why is there such a huge gap in your strength? And it seems your Dao Integration paths are fundamentally different."
Joe Di wasn't exaggerating—if not for Charlotte Ling, he reckoned he'd be a little weaker than Elder Yale. What puzzled him most was why, despite both being early-stage Dao Integration, the difference between Charlotte Ling and Elder Yale was so vast.
(Sorry, sorry, this is late!)